Wikinews' overview of the year 2008

What would you tell your grandchildren about 2008 if they asked you about it in, let's say, 20 years' time? If the answer to a quiz question was 2008, what would the question be? The year that markets collapsed, or perhaps the year that Obama became US president? Or the year Heath Ledger died?

Let's take a look at some of the important stories of 2008. Links to the original Wikinews articles are in all the titles.

February

Violence between Rebels and the Chadian military started in Chad on February 1 as rebel groups continued to advance on N'djamena, the capital of Chad. IRIN reported that the government of Chad responded to the move by the rebel groups by placing tanks across N'djamena.

French radio station RTL announced that President Nicolas Sarkozy married his Italian girlfriend Carla Bruni at the Élysée Palace. Sarkozy was the first French President of the French Fifth Republic to marry during his office, after already becoming the first one to divorce.

Tornadoes were reported across the southern United States, with some sources saying as many as 48 have died. At least 69 tornadoes were reported to have taken place in just two days, most of which took place on the same day as US citizens were voting in caucuses and primaries on a day known as super Tuesday.

Witnesses reported that at least 80 people have died in a bombing in Afghanistan. The bombing took place in the Kandahar city area of the country, with early reports saying that took place in the Western areas of the city, which is in the South of Afghanistan. The Indonesia based news agency Antara News reported that the bombing took place during a dog fighting match.

At 15:00 GMT today, Kosovo announced its independence from Serbia. Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi declared that Kosovo would become a democratic country and would respect the rights of all its communities. It is expected that several countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States and most members of the European Union, will recognise its independence on Monday. Serbia and Russia are against an independent Kosovo. Approximately 10% of Kosovars are of Serbian descent, the majority is Albanian.

Fidel Castro, who was the Cuban president who seized power in a 1959 revolution, stated in a quote in Cuba's state-run newspaper Granma that when the National Assembly of Cuba meets on February 24 he "will not aspire to or accept... the positions of President of Council of State and Commander in Chief."

March

ArmenianpresidentRobert Kocharyan declared a state of emergency in Armenia after policemen used tear gas and firearms to disperse protests over alleged fraud in last month's presidential election. At least eight persons were left dead in clashes between police and opposition.

Dmitry Medvedev, age 42, has won the presidential election in Russia and is expected to take office on May 7, 2008, replacing Vladimir Putin who has served two 4-year presidential terms since 2000. Medvedev has repeatedly promised to continue the political course of the current Russian government.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, human rights activist Vladimir Bukovsky, reformer Boris Nemtsov and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov were all prohibited from taking part in the election for various technicalities. The Russian media have focused heavily on Medvedev while giving little attention to the opposition candidates.

Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), released premature election results on March 30, which claimed a large victory for their presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai against incumbent Robert Mugabe.

April

Around 25 arrests have been made by Metropolitan Police officers, during the 31 mile Olympic Torch relay in London, England. Demonstrators attempted to extinguish the flame using a fire extinguisher, and grab the torch from the hands of TV presenter Konnie Huq in Ladbroke Grove.

The next day, the Olympic torch went out three times while traveling through Paris, France. Olympic officials claim that this came as a result of actions by Pro-Tibetan protesters. It has been reported that the torch was extinguished, then put on a bus to keep it safe. The torch was extinguished one time by a Chinese official when the torch was in the hands of David Douillet, and one time due to technical problems.

Police in the Lower Austrian town of Amstetten have arrested a 73 year old man who is alleged to have kept his daughter, now aged 42, locked in the cellar of his house in Amstetten since 29th August 1984.

The man, identified by police as Josef Fritzl, is alleged to have started sexually abusing his daughter, named as Elisabeth Fritzl, when she was eleven years old, and to have subsequently fathered seven children by her. Rosemarie F. is said to have been unaware of her husbands' activities. The news has shocked Austria, recalling the case of Natascha Kampusch who was kidnapped aged 10, and escaped after being held in a "dungeon" for eight years in 2006.

May

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) a magnitude 7.92 earthquake struck eastern Sichuan Province in China. The USGS first reported the quake to be a magnitude 7.8 which hit at 6:28:00 UTC. Officials stated that at least 10,000 may have been killed and local reports indicate over 10,000 injured.

June

Barack Obama has achieved enough Democratic Party delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination to become the Presidential candidate to face Republican Senator John McCain in the November 2008 United States elections. Obama will be the first black candidate ever to stand for the United States presidency with the backing of a major political party.

A plane arriving in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, burst into flames after veering off the runway during a thunderstorm. Around 100 passengers and crew were feared dead after the incident, although the final death toll was significantly lower .

July

Freed hostage Íngrid Betancourt arrived in France today, two days after being rescued from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who had kept her captive in the Colombian jungle for more than six years.

"It's a completely hostile environment with dangerous animals," Betancourt said. "The most dangerous, of course, is man. Those men who were behind me with huge rifles, pushing me, telling me to walk, telling me to walk more quickly." She called on Sarkozy to continue working toward freeing the hostages who were left behind.

SenatorTed Stevens of Alaska has been indicted by federal grand jury on seven criminal counts for making false statements in his Senate financial disclosure forms. The longest-serving Republican in the Senate, Stevens is the highest-profile politician ensnared in the corruption scandal surrounding VECO Corporation and its executives' attempts to influence politics.

August

Brett Favre, the National Football League's all-time leader in passing yards, touchdowns, victories, and consecutive games started for a quarterback was traded to the New York Jets for a conditional draft pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. Favre, 38, had previously announced his retirement from the NFL in March but was reinstated after he voiced his intentions to return to play for the 2008 NFL season. Favre had previously played for the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 2007. In 2008, Favre entered his 18th season in the NFL.

The War in South Ossetia escalated as Russian forces were sent into the conflict on the Ossetian side. The President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili announced the mobilization of reserve troops to withstand what he called "a large-scale military aggression" by Russia, and called Russia to stop the "bombardment of Georgian towns." The next day, Saakashvili declared a state of war.

A passenger plane leaving from Madrid - Barajas Airport has crashed during take-off. 153 fatalities and 19 injuries have been reported amongst those who were on the aircraft. Flight JK5022, operated by Spanair, was destined for Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, when it skidded off the end of the runway in good weather at 14:45 local time. An engine of the aircraft is reported to have caught fire during the attempted takeoff.

September

Questions were raised on how thoroughly the staff of United States Senator and Presidential nomineeJohn McCain had examined the background of his running mate, Governor Sarah Palin before announcing that he had selected her on August 29. McCain's advisers insisted that Palin was "thoroughly vetted," a process that would have included a review of all financial and legal records as well as a criminal background check.

The questions arose amid controversy that Palin's 17-year-old unmarried daughter Bristol was five months pregnant at the time and how Palin was possibly abusing her powers as Governor of Alaska in the "Troopergate" scandal. McCain was aware of Bristol Palin's pregnancy before he asked her mother to join him on the ticket and reportedly did not see the pregnancy as a detriment to Governor Palin's selection as the vice presidential candidate.

McCain had reportedly met Palin only twice before her selection, and had his first face-to-face interview with her on August 28. McCain offered Palin the vice presidential spot just moments after their meeting concluded. The two appeared at a campaign rally event the following morning in Dayton, Ohio.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that started preliminary experiments on September 10, 2008 in CERN, Geneva, and the planned International Linear Collider (ILC) will carry out a series of experiments in the future to validate the standard model of particle physics. The model predicts that Higgs boson particles gives mass to all fundamental particles and explains the existence of dark matter, or invisible matter in between galaxies.

The LHC is a 27 kilometer long circular high energy particle accelerator which took more than 20 years and USD $9 billion to build. In the next few weeks the machine will collide opposing beams of protons charged with approximately 7 TeV of energy resulting in cataclysmic conditions that will mimic the beginning of time, a re-creation of the Big Bang.

Almost 13,000 children in China have fallen sick in a wave of sickness caused by baby's milk contaminated with melamine. Most of the sickened children are infants two years or younger, and four children have died from the chemical so far.

In the milk incident, melamine was added to make the milk appear richer in protein. It caused an estimated 53,000 to become ill, mostly young children. The chemical can cause kidney stones and kidney failure.

The Chinese Health Ministry has stated that most of the tainted milk was produced by Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group Co.'s infant milk powder and have pulled several dairy products off the shelves of Chinese stores. Sanlu, Mengniu and Yili were among the largest brands recalled, and have been attempting to repair their damaged public image.

October

Following a large fall at the start of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has recovered by hundreds of points, with it climbing over 250 points again before dropping off to down 100 in just minutes.

Thousands of civilians fled their homes on Saturday amid fierce fighting between local militias and Tutsi-dominated rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to the U.N. peacekeeping mission there.

Congolese Army Colonel Delphin Kahimbi said that "very violent attacks" had been reported, and that the fighting was between local militia known as Mai-Mai and rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda. Major P.K. Tiwari, a military spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission, said the fighting "started early this morning and ended late this afternoon." Tiwari said it was not clear who had attacked first.

November

The 2008 Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, 47, is projected to win at least 349 electoral votes, more than enough to clinch the Presidency of the United States. Obama is the first African American to be elected President in U.S. history. His Republican opponent, Arizona Senator John McCain, is projected to win at least 173 electoral votes. McCain has phoned Obama to concede the election. Obama officially became the President-elect when John McCain issued his concession speech shortly after 9:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

Pirates have seized control of the Sirius Star, a Saudi-owned oil tanker off the coast of Kenya and are steering her towards Somalia. The oil tanker was carrying over 2 million barrels of oil at the time of her capture, and was on her way to the United States via Cape Town. Reuters claimed that news of the attack raised crude oil prices around the world. The Sirius Star is the largest ship captured by pirates in the area to date. This also sets a record for the farthest from the shore that pirates have struck.

Although Israel briefly lifted its blockade of crossings in the Gaza Strip today, United Nations (UN) officials warn that a further blockade could lead to dire consequences for some 750,000 Gazans who rely on UN food aid. Israel blockaded the Gaza Strip in early November, preventing access for UN aid workers and journalists.

Scores of people have been killed, and many more wounded, in what appear to have been coordinated attacks by gunmen wielding automatic weapons and hand grenades. The attacks began around 10:30 p.m. IST in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Police reports indicate at least 80 deaths and a further 900 injured. More conservative estimates place the death toll at 78 with over 200 injured. According to television reports, a little-known group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen has claimed responsibility.

Sites of the attacks have been listed as the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station, a hospital, a police station and at least three hotels, including Oberoi Trident and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. The Marriott Hotel in Juhu has been attacked with gunfire, but details are sketchy. A restaurant, Leopold Cafe on Colaba Causeway was also attacked.

With dire warnings that the number of stranded tourists in Thailand could rise as high as 300,000, thousands are attempting to leave the country via U-tapao airport in Rayong, around 150 km southeast of the capital Bangkok. The blockade of the two main international airports by People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters is now in its sixth day. Tensions continue to rise with a pro-government rally planned for today and police surrounding the main international airport, Suvarnabhumi.

December

Bush and al-Maliki shake hands during the press conference, following the signing of the Strategic Framework Agreement.Image: Eric Draper.

An Iraqi journalist for an Egyptian Newspaper named Muntazer al-Zaidi was tackled by authorities after he threw his shoes at United States president George W. Bush during a press conference on Sunday in Baghdad.

Before throwing his shoes at Bush, the reporter stood up and said, "This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, dog!" The words were followed by the reporter's two shoes being thrown at Bush, who had to duck in order to avoid being hit with them.

In Arabic culture, hitting or throwing shoes at someone so the soles hit them is considered a great insult.

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